Kiss The Anze Kopitar center transported a pass from Vladislav Gavrikov while it was out from behind the net and saw Adrian Kempe ending on the right side. He put on the needle between two Ducks Defenders to feed Kempe, who passed the washer in front of Lukas Dostal for the first goal of the match at the start of the third period.
“When you see that (someone) has a washer on the band over time and I feel like I have a d-man on me that I can beat, I will simply take off,” Kempe said about his goal. “And these guys know it. They have found me so many times before.”
Kempe’s goal scored his 15th on Sunday against the Ducks in his career, the most than any NHL player has scored against them since 2020.
Five minutes later, Alex Laferriere resumed a pass of Ducks and added a second goal – finally the decisive – to all, except sealing a 4-1 victory for the Kings above their archival during the first confrontation of the highway this season.
“The beautiful part of the last objective was that Alex Turcotte) was to chase their defender, and he was therefore forced to play a game perhaps earlier than he wanted,” said Kings coach Jim Hiller. “So there are two guys in that one. Laf gets the goal, Turk does not get help there, but it was just as important.”
Despite a slow start in the first period, the Kings finally settled and dominated the game offensively, with 37 shots on goal. They won 62.3% of their confrontation. Defensively, they limited the Ducks to only 15 shots on goal with David Rittich Net 14 stops, to accompany 11 blocked shots and eight take -out dishes.
Hiller was also satisfied with the discipline of his team in the penalty penalty as they prevented the Ducks from scoring in one of their three power games, an area in which he recognizes that they have grown since the pre-season.
“There are moments and certain scenarios where we were a little more passive and awaited a trigger at the pressure, while earlier, we were doing a little pressure everywhere,” said Hiller. “So I thought there was sometimes this evening when we fell, waiting for a trigger, then returned. So you know, they did a good job.
“I think we are starting to understand this more and more. It is an important part of the game of course, because it can really frustrate the other team. We were also on the other side. ”
The Kings, who won a 4-1 victory in Montreal, won two consecutive after abandoning their previous three. They have not yet played a home game in the regular season or in pre-season, while the current renovations in Crypto.com Arena pushed their home match on Thursday.
With the Honda Center just 31 miles from Kings home ice, this match was the first time that players could spend time at home all season. This means that guys like defender Joel Edmundson, a recent father, can savor every moment.
“Little sleep in recent days, but the woman let me sleep in my own room last night, so (I) felt pretty good today,” said Edmundson.
They will have to go through another road match – Tuesday in Las Vegas – before welcoming San Jose Sharks on Thursday.
